Adrian Beltre is the greatest One Year Wonder in Red Sox history. I have done exhaustive posts on these things, I know what I am talking about. He may be one of the greatest One Year Wonders for any team's history. Juan Soto's Yankees stint is probably better, but I can't think of too many others. Beltre came up with the Dodgers as a young phenom at the age of 19 and spent the first six years in L.A. He had some good years, but suffered from some injuries. He just never quite seemed ready to break out. Until 2004.
2004 was Beltre's last year in L.A. and he went out on a high note. That year, he leveraged a .334/.338/.629 line into a lucrative free agent deal with the Mariners. He led the league with 48 home runs and drove in 121. He finished second in the MVP race and won his first Silver Slugger. Unfortunately, he was not able to keep up that production in Seattle, largely because the park was ill-suited to his swing. He never hit more than 26 home runs or higher than .276. He did cement a reputation as a top defensive third-baseman though, winning two Gold Gloves during his time in the Emerald City.
By the end of the 2009 season, Beltre's star was waning. He signed a one-year deal after the offseason with the Red Sox. That year though, he completely turned his career around. He put up phenomenal numbers and found Fenway Park to his liking. He led the league with 49 doubles and had his best season since 2004 finishing among the league leaders in average, RBIs and slugging. He was named to his first All Star Game (somehow he was not an All Star in 2004), won his second Silver Slugger and finished ninth in the MVP race.
Unfortunately the Red Sox long coveted another Adrian and eventually let Beltre walk as a free agent. The team traded for Adrian Gonzalez, moving Kevin Youkilis back to third base and there was no room for Beltre. This would turn out to be a mistake as Beltre continued his resurgence in Texas. He was named to the All Star team four more times and won four Silver Sluggers and three Gold Gloves and eventually made it to 400 career home runs and 3,000 career hits.
In 2024, Beltre made it to the Hall of Fame on his first ballot, and it was well-deserved. He goes down as one of the greatest all-around third-basemen in baseball history. He wears a Rangers cap on his plaque, which absolutely makes sense, but his stint in Boston was important because it turned his career around. He was floundering after leaving Seattle, but found his stroke again in Boston and kept it up through the end of his career.
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